U language
Austroasiatic language spoken in Yunnan, China
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The U language, or P'uman (Chinese: 濮满), is spoken by 40,000 people in the Yunnan Province of China and possibly Myanmar. It is classified as an Austroasiatic language in the Palaungic branch. In China, U speakers are classified as ethnic Bulang.
Locations
U is spoken in Shuangjiang County of Yunnan and other nearby counties.[2]
- Wang & Chen (1981) covers the dialect of Pengpan 碰拚, Dafengshan Township 大凤山乡, Shuangjiang County.
- Zhou & Yan (1983) covers the dialect of Pangpin 胖品,[3] Yongge Township 永革乡, Shuangjiang County.
- Yan & Zhou (2012) cover U of Gantang 甘塘,[4][5] Yongde County as well as U of Pangpin 胖品.
- Svantesson (1991:67) documents the U dialect of Pã Xɛp (Bangxie, 邦协), Shahe Township 沙河乡, Shuangjiang County.[6]
There two main dialects of U in Shuangjiang County: one spoken in Gongnong (公弄, now part of Mengku Town, 勐库镇) and one spoken in Bangbing (邦丙) and Dawen Mangga (大文乡忙嘎); the Dawen dialect is reportedly mutually intelligible with that of Shidian County (Shuangjiang County Ethnic Gazetteer 1995:160).
Avala (autonym: a21 va21 la21) is spoken in Bangliu (邦六),[7] Manghuai Township (芒怀乡), Yun County (云县), Yunnan, China.[8][9]
Phonology
U has four tones, high, low, rising, falling, which developed from vowel length and the nature of final consonants.